1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an integrated system for vouchers management. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an integrated system in which vouchers are established as a fictitious passenger name record (hereinafter “PNR”) within the carrier's existing PNR system, and redeemable through typical PNR reissue methodology.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Typical modern travel booking systems utilize a passenger name record system. A PNR is a file on a global distribution system (hereinafter “GDS”) containing the information relating to a specific booking. A GDS is a computer reservation system, typically owned jointly by airlines in different countries, that includes reservation databases of suppliers in many countries.
Carriers often find themselves in situations in which it is necessary or at least prudent to offer a customer a credit, refund the purchase price of a ticket, or offer other compensation to travelers. Non-limiting examples of situations include an unused ticket, cancelled flight, lost luggage, being bumped from a flight, voluntarily surrendering a seat on an overbooked flight, special promotions, or a user simply deciding to cancel a trip for a refundable ticket. Such compensation is typically given to the customer either as a pure refund or as a credit voucher to be redeemed by the customer for alternative travel or other expenses. A voucher is preferable to a refund, as a customer may spend the refund anywhere whereas a voucher is generally redeemable only through the carrier or authorized affiliates.
Managing vouchers is a costly process. The creation is usually not integrated into the carrier's systems for payment, billing, booking and/or reporting. The redemption cannot be performed through all available sales channel and usually requires calling a company agent who manually creates a PNR. The redemption process is complex as the carrier needs to identify in the new booking the fact that at least part of the amount was paid by a voucher, along with the corresponding amount, including taxes. The airline must also maintain a reporting system to account for vouchers being redeemed. Voucher creation and management flows are therefore difficult to manage through the online sales channel. This is an issue both in terms of customer exposure and cost management.
Some airlines offer voucher creation and redemption online through a separate database system. The payment process is an external payment, such that the airline needs to have some additional reporting mechanism to identify that a voucher has been created with a specific amount. For the creation process, there needs to be a specific database containing all information relative to the person the voucher is for, the specific amount and the expiration date. This information ideally needs to be visible by the call-centers who may not have access to that database. Once the voucher is created, there needs to be a mechanism in place to debit the amount. When the customer redeems the voucher, the new booking contains a reference to the voucher and corresponding amount. Again, this requires the carrier to have an independent mechanism in place to correlate both the voucher and new booking and report on the same.